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Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

The dude just can’t stay out of trouble . He’s unsigned for next season , and even though we have good depth at LB , I’m thinking thats an area we might look at in the draft , or maybe FA . I wonder if our new DC “The Mighty Quinn” might have some ideas about that . Anyone know who’s out there at linebacker in free agency this year ?

Yep, he’s pretty much done. It does sound like there’s a lot more coming. The assault charge suggests this isn’t a DV issue that’s going to go away. Even if there isn’t anything to it, it’s going to take a while to get it sorted out and no team’s going to take a chance on him while it’s being litigated, especially given his age.

Jibo1: My apologies. I didn’t see the question earlier. Irvin’s strength is rushing the passer, not playing in space. So I would say no. Malcolm Smith would be the first guy in line right now, followed by Mike Morgan or Allen Bradford as the roster is configured now. Kyle Knox on the practice squad is another guy to watch for.

Unless Hill was willing to take the league minimum I have doubts he would have been back next year anyway. Now I doubt he will be back period. But it wasn’t too long ago that many of us felt there was no doubt he’d be gone, and then he came back. So I guess…never say never?

Hate to see this from a seahawk, I was one who backed him in my mind over the Pot deal, But now I rate him right there alongside another bonehead Ben Roethlisberger, I dont like men (famous or not) who rape or violate women and he can rot in jail as far as I’m concerned, Too bad he won’t he’ll get off and continue his sick ways. too many in our society get away with this behaviour because of their money or the money they make for other people.

Do people here realize that this doesn’t change anything from the first post about his arrest? All the info in here is from a police report. Doesn’t mean ANYTHING! It just means that this is what the GF is claiming happened. Just relax and wait to see what happens. I know everyone has to have an opinion right away, regardless of the facts. This isn’t really his third DV problem. He took a continuance on the first charge. Not a conviction I believe. And the charge was 4th degree assault. “Fourth Degree Assault typically includes committing an assault against another person such as a punch, a slap or even a push; generally speaking, no injury or even pain has to be proven by the prosecuting authority.”1 He hasn’t been charged or convicted of anything here. I will agree with you that it seems he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed at least, STTBM.

Unless he is convicted, he still has a shot to come back for another one year, vet min contract. I’m not saying he will. I think there’s a good chance they were going to draft a WLB regardless. Also Malcolm Smith is talented. I think they would rather he not be starting in 2013. I could see them bringing him to camp and seeing what happens though. Not a lot to lose.

Could not agree more with the above post and reasoning. At this point it’s just what is in a police report.

And Leroy in a back up role would not be a bad thing if we don’t find the WLB we want this year.

Though from the post above it is now being reported that the arrest was for 3rd degree assault. Which involves at least some kind of physical contact and force.

And what information the police have now publicly released about the incident, especially the allegations and basis for the arrest, would require that the female in question would have to have concocted a pretty crazy and difficult to make up story, if it is fabricated and/or exaggerated.

Which is certainly possible. But also rather doubtful.

Doesn’t sound like she was physically harmed in a major way. But if the story being reported is in fact all true, the police had multiple valid reasons for the arrest. And it was assault in every legal and commonly-held understanding of what assault means.

I don’t buy the staining of the brand garbage. Is anyone here really going to spend or follow the Hawks any less in 2013 if Hill is here? I highly doubt it. And I did say if he wasn’t convicted. Him being stained due to just being arrested or charged is the province of the sanctimonious douche bags that litter the internet, although I’ll agree there are a lot of them it seems. I don’t think he’ll be back if convicted. Although I don’t think he shouldn’t be resigned simply because he is convicted. The criminal justice system is to punish IMO. Not sure why you have to be unemployed on top of the punishment from the court. Unless he will be spending time in jail and missing work, that I can see. Don’t twist this and say I’m okay with DV, but I’m not sure what the logic in making people convicted of DV unemployable is. There is all kinds of collateral damage from doing things like that.

Seventies, the fourth degree assault I referenced was the charge that he took a continuance on in 2010, not this incident. He hasn’t been charged of anything here yet. He was probably arrested for third degree assault because they are claiming that he committed said assault in an attempt to avoid being taken into custody. “Assault in the 3rd degree is committed when you:

Commit assault in an effort to impede a lawful order of the court or in avoidance of being taken into custody.
Assault a driver of public transportation or a school bus
With criminal negligence (as opposed to intent) cause bodily harm to another with a weapon
Assault a firefighter or police officer
Assault a nurse, physician, or health provider”

It doesn’t necessarily denote that the assault was anymore violent or caused any more damage than a 4th degree assault I believe. I also don’t see how saying that he blocked the door and took her cellphone is that crazy or difficult a story to make up? I’m not saying he did it or not. I don’t know, and neither does anyone else here.

What a knot head. See ya, Leroy. I really hate when the sports section becomes dominated by crime stories, so I’ll be happy if Leroy is cut and we don’t hear of him again.

He was a very good player, but his decline on the field was noticeable this year. He wasn’t going to improve this team next year. Finding another star player to upgrade the defense at OLB was already a high priority. That hasn’t changed..

montana, no problem. I’m not worked up. I just don’t get why some people need the guys that they get their thrills from by watching them physically destroy each other 20-24 games a year to be choir boys. Just seems weird to me.

Georgia, I wasn’t referencing anyone here in particular with the sanctimonious douche bags comment. Just a general comment on some of the positive aspects of the internet. Anonymous trashing of strangers, oh yeah.

Georgia, no it doesn’t change the priority unless you think Leroy Hill was going to have a career year in 2013 and become a more disruptive pass rusher and better cover LB when he’s 31 years old. That wasn’t going to happen, you know that. We still need an OLB who is a more serious pass rush threat than Malcom Smith. I think we take one in the first 3 rounds of draft.

Does anyone else here think that our team is better than the last two teams standing?
Even though we have some more needs to fill this off season I can’t help but think how this all could have went if we could have at least scored some points in the first half of the Atlanta game.

I wish I did, Georgia. But I don’t think the Seahawks are better than San Francisco or Baltimore. Or Atlanta or Green Bay for that matter.

We were good this year, but if that Atlanta game proved anything to me, it showed that we were too young at some key positions like MLB, undermanned when it comes to pass rush, and haven’t truly learned to dominate in the run game yet. We weren’t the best team int he league, we were a bit immature and incomplete still. That’s why the Harbaugh’s are hosting the big show.

As much as I hate Jim Harbaugh, I’m going to enjoy watching both the Ravens and the Niners pound the ball old-school on Sunday. They are both tough and mature teams.

This latest alleged incident, whether proven true or not, is irrelevant. Hill is past his prime, and there are younger, faster, cheaper players that can replace him. We saw guys like Malcolm Smith and Mike Morgan flash this year in limited spurts. Just based on his deteriorating skill set, he is gone.
Thank you for all you have given the Seahawks, Leroy.

I don’t know if you can say unequivocally that the Hawks are better than the 2 SB teams, but I think if we played either of these two teams ten times each, we would take our fair share of games.
Russell “man-muscle, hustle and bustle” Wilson would’ve found a way to will us to a few wins. I don’t know if we would’ve beaten SF on the road in the NFCCG, but it would’ve been an epic battle.
I do know that we absolutely crushed them on Dec 23rd, and that might’ve actually given them a wake up call about playing with playoff intensity and helped them. I also think our game tape vs Atlanta probably helped Screech’s cousin game plan against the Falcons.
I know this was last year, but we beat the Ravens, with pretty much the same players as this year’s team, with TJack at QB last year. I still enjoy watching Lynch on youtubes put that wicked “beast-shake” shoulder shimmy shake and bake move on Ray Lewis in that game.

Georgia – Yes. We are better than both teams remaining, yet “we” won’t get a chance to prove it. If we weren’t better than the 49ers, we wouldn’t have beaten them by a zillion points a month ago. That’s partly why I’m still irate.

It’s more fun to give up on seasons and be “golly, that was fun” people, I’ll admit. But I expect more and hate losing out on golden opportunities like this season turned out to be, even if most didn’t expect it to turn out the way it did (or expect us to be this good at the end).

For the people who say we had areas of need… Are you seriously saying the Whiners are 100% without faults? Look at their receivers as ***ONE*** example… they suck as bad as our DL did at the end (they had injuries to key WRs, we had key injuries to Clem/Jones, too)… The WRs that they have standing suck big time (they have CrapTree and a 930 year old Randy Moss). Almost every Super Bowl winning team has had areas that they have had to overcome to win it all… we would have been NO different… Since I firmly believe we are better than either Harbaugh team, I don’t know why it shouldn’t be us right now… Oh, wait, I forgot… I should be happy we lost… derrr… Yes. The future is bright, but that doesn’t mean we should be dumber than hell in knowing we lost a golden opportunity a few weeks ago…

Looks like Georgia baited Bobby very nicely. Got him riled up,, I get going like that I have to resort to more beer then my wife wants to account for. I do agree with Bobby we are definitely better. I hope we get next years games with the 49ers over with early in the season winning both, set the tone for the next 10 years or so.

Nice link SandpointHawk….rather use my time following our franchise QB than worrying about whether, a guy can get off of allegations of abusing his girlfeind/wife. Want to focus on the champion off season as RW calls it and just let the loser wife beaters of the league to just go away……Hill had two chances to man up, cut the turd and get on with the off season

So reserved and steady.. This guy will never melt down (Russell) like others who tend to forget where they are.

I have always appreciated Leroy, and always thought he was a great player/teammate , and what is happening to him again is kinda par for his course. I seriously doubt he is a “bad guy”, but he isn’t a choir boy either. I would guess his compadres in battle love the guy. I’m guessing his starting days may be short, but it isn’t like he was an ACurry now was he?

I think he just is half a sandwich short of a full picnic, and can’t seem to comprehend that he is going the wrong way on the freeway quite often. Just as you KNOW RUssell Wilson will never make the kinds of mistakes Leroy does, you know Leroy will. I wasn’t always the best decision maker in my life, and I let my emotions get the better of meas well. I suppose if I had a couple million, some women probably would have tried to take advantage of me too, so I am not in a position to cast any negativity at the dude.

Craptree? Apparently you didn’t watch him this year, BobbyK. 85 catches, 1,105 yards, 9 TDs. I know I know, they’re just stats and don’t reflect his play at all.

I don’t know whether or not we are better than the 2 remaining teams for sure. Football teams don’t play each other enough to determine this for sure IMO. Ideally, you’d want them to play like 100 times or more to let everything else even itself out. Obviously, this can’t happen in the real world. They don’t even play a best of 5 or 7 like in the NBA or MLB. I will say the fact that we blew the Whiners out definitely does not mean we are 100% a better team than them. Lots of things can happen in one game. The next game usually is much different. My guess is that the Whiners are still slightly better at this point, due to their advantage in experience. That should erode as time moves on. I think we are probably the better all around team than the Ravens. They have the experience in spades, and they got hot at the right time. I wouldn’t say that the Giants were the best team last year if you look at the whole season, but they got hot at the right time. Same thing in 2007. I do know that I wouldn’t trade rosters with either the Ravens or Whiners.

well, we lost to the Falcons by 2, and the niners (who we beat badly just a couple weeks before) barely held on to beat the those Falcons by 4. I’d say it’s pretty clear that those three NFC teams at the top are basically dead even. It’s just one play here or there that determines who wins when the teams are all on that same level.

pdway – using that line of thinking – the 49ers were half a game better than the Seahawks during the regular season. The Seahawks lost to the Falcons by 2 and the 49ers won by 4 the following week. Both games were close, but the 49ers barely pulled it out – in line with how they won the NFC West Championship.

It’s a shame because around week 13 I figured the NFC West Champion was going to win the Super Bowl. I also figured that Brady would keep up his undefeated December home record since 2002 and that NFC West Champ would be the Seahawks.

I agree with bbnate, First time, he called 911 because his girlfriend attacked him with scissors, police arrived and she STILL HAD the scissors in her hand, and he went to jail for not allowing her to stab him….went to jail the second time for agreeing to go out with her……

This time we’ll probably find out this time she was actively using a Flame Thrower on him and he wasn’t catching fire fast enough…..

Eh, Leroy still has to go…poor judgement to remain in Issaquah after the first arrest, let alone the second……your a man, youre in Issaquah, your guilty…just that simple….

I bet we never make that mistake again. Truth is we have no pass rush at this time due to injury, while the league is adapting to scrambling QB’s, i’m pissed at The cheap ass Washinton owners for taking out Clemmons, i truly believe he would have made the difference for sure against Atlanta.

Ok, thanks Eric. We’ll see what the courts have to say about this… Until then, I’m going back to pregaming for FA and the Draft. I wish Hill the best though and hope it’s untrue – he has always been a warrior on the field. He was best suited to John Marshall’s “funnel it to the MLB/WLB” defense and a bad fit in Carroll/Bradley’s “plug your gap” defense. Let’s not forget how brightly he shined from 2005-2007 with Marshall calling the defense.

bbnate–Its not that we want our guys to be choir boys. Its that for some of us, Domestic Violence is not acceptable. Period. I took that stance with Rocky Bernard, and Im holding it with Hill. Hopefully Hill is getting jerked around, and hasnt really done anything. However, given his history, the odds are he isnt totally innocent.

SirTopamHat–His first DV charge was supposed to be for dragging his GF at the time down the stairs by her hair. Given the fact he was convicted of assault, I’d say he was guilty of assault, not guilty of calling the cops on a scissor-wielding GF.

And for you folks with absolute faith in our legal system; more people get away with crimes without being convicted by far than are wrongfully convicted. Our “justice system” is a joke. You can withhold judgement until theres a conviction, and you can believe that everyone who isnt convicted is innocent. But dont expect everyone else to have that same faith, because I for one sure dont have it.

There is a chance Hill is innocent, but it surely doesnt look good, considering his history.

GeorgiaHawk–Thanks for the offer, but maybe another time on the song lyrics. Maybe I’ll save it for the next time a certain song parody hater gets all pissy..then I can bust one out just to make him gnash his teeth! ;p

STTBM, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re wrong about one fact. He was NOT convicted of assault. He agreed to a continuance, where the charges were dropped if he stayed out of trouble for a specified amount of time. 18 months I think I read. The charges were dropped. No conviction. Agreeing to a continuance is not admitting guilt and is usually determined by a cost/benefit analysis. I bet his lawyer was in favor of him doing it. Does this mean he wasn’t guilty of assaulting her? Not necessarily. But I personally need evidence. You may have a lower threshold, which is fine if you’re not serving on a jury.

I’m not okay with DV either, but I’m not sure a minor DV infraction should mean loss of someone’s livelihood. That was what I meant about them being choir boys. It also seems like a weird juxtaposition that this is a guy we all enjoy and pay to see assault people every Sunday. People will also point to his drug-related legal issues. I do have a problem with him being passed out in an intersection, but besides that I don’t give a spit if he smokes marijuana every day. It’s legal even if he stays in Washington or goes to Colorado. That was my point.

And most DV cases are not as cut and dry as it may seem. It’s not always one sided. Men are usually bigger, so they are given much less leeway. Women can often get away with hitting a man. A lot of people still think it’s okay if a woman hits/slaps a man up to a certain point. I don’t think anyone should hit another person unless the other person hit them first or they are protecting someone else from physical harm. Period! And it’s about more than size and strength. If a man that was smaller than me walked up and slapped me in the face, I think most people would have no problem with me punching/fighting him. With the same scenario involving a woman of equal size to the aforementioned man, I think a lot if not the majority of people would expect me not to punch her in the face.

Lastly, it’s not that I have absolute faith in the justice system. I have absolute faith in few things. It’s a human institution and is run by humans, so of course it has flaws. But it’s better than anything else ever developed IMO. It’s like the saying. Democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the rest of them. There’s a difference between thinking that someone is guilty and having enough certainty to levy punishment on them IMO. This is just the criminal system too. The civil court system runs on preponderance of the evidence. The criminal system goes by the principle that it is better that a guilty person go free than for an innocent person to be wrongly convicted. I agree with that. You seem not to. You might change your tune if charged with a crime.

P.S. Your claim that far more guilty people go free than innocent people are convicted may be correct, but it is just speculation. It could very likely be true for people that can afford a good lawyer. I’d have serious doubts if you’re talking about people represented by a Public Defender.

“Seahawks linebacker Leroy Hill allegedly threw his girlfriend across the room, stood on her chest, struck her with a bottle and kept her from leaving an Issaquah home during a six-hour altercation Monday that began when she couldn’t find her keys, according to police.” — from the Seattle P-I

Since she was taken to the hospital, there’s medical documentation of her injuries. It doesn’t look good for Hill, who is clearly a troubled man.

Medical documentation of injuries that none of us have seen, so it’s rather pointless to comment on them. Being taken to the hospital doesn’t mean anything. Not to mention the fact that we have no idea whether or not Hill caused the injuries. Just because she has injuries, that doesn’t prove he caused them. Again, I’m not saying that he did or didn’t do it. I just don’t get why people have to rush to judgement when they haven’t even seen any evidence yet?

bbnate420, no one is rushing to judgment, but rather responding to the serious allegations that have been made. His guilt or innocence is for the legal system to determine. Based on what we do know, it doesn’t look good for him, especially considering this ain’t his first rodeo with DV.

Well, you said he was clearly a troubled man. That seems like a judgement to me about his guilt or innocence. Maybe I misunderstood. And I’m not sure how much the prior DV arrest will play into this. He took a continuance. Wasn’t convicted. Unfortunately, the marijuana conviction will play into it. And if you think that “no one” is rushing to judgement, then you clearly haven’t read all of the posts. Maybe you aren’t, but plenty are.

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